Some products are obviously brilliant from the first moment that you see them, others take time for the brilliance to become apparent, some never really succeed, and then are those that time reveals were fatally flawed. Now I bring you a product so dumb it makes New Coke seem like a smart idea. Kellogg’s new fruit flavoured snack that is shaped like Lego bricks. Who could possibly think that making food that is shaped like plastic toys is a good idea? What product development team thinks that encouraging young kids to swallow something on which they could choke is the way forward? Lego shaped snacks are an accident, and this being the US, a law suit waiting to happen.
We Want Information
Outside my office a programmer sits not on a chair, but on a large off-white ball. When I leave my office, I glance at it half expecting it to rise into the air and give chase. Hopefully, this mild paranoia will not evolve into me audibly declaring “I am not a number – I am a free man”.
Be Seeing You.
Beer Veto
Who has not sat in a dull meeting and had their thoughts drift to an after work cocktail. I am sure that teachers in front of a difficult class must lose their focus on occasion and think about a glass of wine. It would seem from this clip that Presidential candidates likewise have their mind on a drink when they are delivering their umpteenth stump speech of the day; unless he is inadvertently revealing a secret plan to reintroduce prohibition. I shall certainly make sure that I do not pass up any opportunity between now and the election to visit a bar – just in case this latter possibility comes to pass.
A Tale of Two Cities
It is the best of times; it is the worst of times. A statement that is true for sport in the town and city of Boston. The Boston Red Sox are the reigning Baseball champions, the Boston Celtics secured the NBA title on Tuesday, the New England Patriots completed an undefeated regular season in the NFL, and the New England Revolution top the Eastern Conference in MLS. Sport in the Boston, Massachusetts is success across the board.
Back across the Atlantic, in Boston Lincolnshire, the story is far more down beat. I used to live twenty minutes from the town after which the American city is named. I worked with a Boston United fan who attended every home game. The combination of these factors led me to follow Boston United’s fortunes. I was happy to see them gain promotion to the Football League in 2002. The club seems to have been in a state of constant financial woe and as they were relegated from the Football League in 2007. Due to their financial conditions they dropped two divisions into ‘Blue Square North’ , the second tier of the Football Conference. Last season they finished tenth, but for financial reasons were expelled from the Conference. They have gained admission for next season to the ‘Unibond Premier League’; hopefully this marks the end of their decline and the start of fresh success on the pitch and recovery from their financial difficulties.
P.S. I know that Boston in the UK is not a city, but the title sounds better than The Tale of Two Built-Up Areas.
Not the best Monday Ever
I have had better starts to a week than the 2:50am call on Monday. A hardware failure had forced my company to switch to their backup database server. The timing put it right in the middle of the UK day, so there was quite a lot of work to do; never easy under time pressure and doubly difficult when one is mostly asleep. I got back to bed a little before 5:30am, which gave me a couple of hours of rest. The only plus side was that I was moving to a different office, in the same building, so the fact that I felt like a zombie was not as great a drawback as it would be on a regular day.
I See Dumb People
I am not sure that this video proves anything more than the fact that with a camera and a microphone you can always find some really dumb people. I just hope that none of these people actually vote.
The Graduate
I left nursery school. I left primary school. I left middle school. I left secondary school. I graduated from University. I have been to five educational establishments and only the final one offered the possibility of graduation. In the UK graduation only happens from institutes of higher education. Here in the US children “graduate” at the end of their time at each school. The previously mentioned six year old trick or treater just graduated for the second time in her life as she finished kindergarten.
Lego from Iwo Jima
There are some iconic images that almost anyone can recognize; even if they are recreated using little Lego men.
The Flash Number Sign
One thing that I find mildly irritating and frequently confusing is the US habit of calling the # symbol, the pound symbol. The £ is the pound symbol.
I call # a hash symbol, or if you are of a musical bent maybe a sharp. Microsoft created a programming language called C# and it is pronounced C sharp, so maybe this is better name for programmers to standardize on. I have also seen the # called tictactoe and today I learnt it is also called an octothorpe.
